Earth moving, excavation, and material handling equipment (e.g., excavation vehicles) are designed to dig below the ground surface on which the machine rests. Excavation vehicles may be used in loading, leveling, grading, lifting, trench/pit digging and backfilling, and other processes. The major components of the excavation vehicle are the boom, the stick (arm), and the bucket. Each cab, boom, stick, and bucket must be precisely positioned for accurate and safe operation, and position sensing devices may be used to accurately determine the positions of each of these parts. In addition, accurate positioning of the bucket tip for graded cutting operations requires closed loop monitoring of vehicle stability. This is due to the potential for toppling the vehicle should it begin operation outside of specified safety limits, to include maximum/minimum angular positions for each part. Currently, operation of an excavation vehicle includes the manual operation of separate tilt switches for each part, and the use of position measuring devices and laser feedback.
Accordingly, it is desirable to eliminate the need for separate switches, sensors, and laser feedback to safely operate an excavation vehicle. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.